Firewise, plus the city vs weeds

An important part of a native plant garden is leaving last season’s dried vegetation in place over the winter. It helps trap snow for moisture and provides seeds for birds. A Habitat Hero sign shows this is not a patch of weeds. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Firewise information, plus city ordinances regulate weeds and native plant gardens

Published March 15, 2024, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

Firewise

            Firewise is a program educating homeowners, especially in areas prone to wildfire (grasslands or forest), on measures to safeguard their homes. The idea is to eliminate flammables within 5 feet of buildings, including under the porch or deck and in the gutters, plus other aspects within 30 feet.

            You can read my interview with folks creating a Firewise community across the highway from Curt Gowdy State Park, https://cheyennegardengossip.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/firewise-preparing-your-home-for-wildfire-season/, and find information at www.firewise.org.

            Native plants are recommended for landscaping Firewise homes.

Weeds and the native plant garden

            I recently heard a story about a man who has been working on turning his front yard into a native plant garden since 2003 and how it was mistaken for non-compliant weeds and mowed at the direction of the city.

            The good news is that most of the plants in a native plant garden are perennials that will come back. But how did this happen and how can we keep it from happening again?

            This incident came up at the 10^th annual Cheyenne Habitat Hero Workshop in February and I followed up later with more questions. It seems that the homeowner had just left for vacation when the notice came and “the time for appeal had expired by the time I returned,” he said.

            I asked if he had a plant list. Not really, but plants include penstemon, asters, yarrow, salvia, columbine, coneflowers and early blooming non-natives such as tulips, daffodils and crocus.

            One way to mark an area as a flower garden is to have flowers blooming across the entire growing season, which his spring bloomers help with. He said he even does some deadheading to get plants to bloom a second time. But the city mowing took place in October, when it can be difficult for some to see the beauty of seedheads attracting birds.

            I asked if he has a weed problem. “So far bindweed hasn’t been a problem in the front yard (it is in the backyard). Thistle is an issue and I work to keep it under control,” he said.

            Another way to indicate a flower garden is to define the edges well. At my house, it’s a sharp shovel making the line between bed and turf. The sidewalk is one boundary, he said, “I place a 4×4 between the sidewalk and yard as an additional buffer. I trim back the plants when they grow into the sidewalk.”

            City councilman Richard Johnson, who attended last year’s Habitat Hero workshop, put me in touch with John Palmer, code enforcement supervisor, who emailed me a reply:

            “If a homeowner who is turning their yard into a garden receives a letter for a potential violation of the weeds/grass ordinance, they should call or email the nuisance officer listed at the bottom of the letter as soon as possible and arrange for a meeting at the address to discuss the matter on site.

            “Our concern usually is that noxious weeds or weeds that spread quickly, such as dandelions, are allowed to grow along with flowering plants and become a problem for neighbors who have a traditional grass yard. Also, some of these locations allow flowering plants/weeds to grow tall enough to become an obstruction of the sidewalk.

            “If troublesome weeds and any obstruction of the sidewalk is addressed, then we generally don’t have a problem with whole yard gardens and the case would be closed.

            “As with any violation letter that we send out, timely communication is important to resolve situations like this,” wrote Palmer.

            As in traditional flower beds, you can plan for short plants along the sidewalk—keeping the sunflowers farther back so they don’t lean over the sidewalk.

            Another traditional flower bed design element is planting drifts of each species rather than a patchwork of “onesies.” Of course, self-reseeding perennials don’t always cooperate.

            Zach Hutchinson, from Audubon Rockies, who lives in Natrona County, said he had a similar experience with someone mistaking his native plant garden for weeds. The county people suggested that to show his intentions better, he should put up a sign.

            Habitat Hero certification through Audubon Rockies, https://rockies.audubon.org/habitat-hero, or the National Wildlife Federation, https://certifiedwildlifehabitat.nwf.org/ both offer signs.   

            And of course, keep your garden weeded. Some Wyoming native plants are considered agricultural weeds, but they shouldn’t be a problem in your garden unless you are on a farm or ranch.             Nancy Loomis’s advice at the workshop (follow her on Facebook, NativeNancy3072): Disturb soil as little as possible to keep weed seeds from germinating. Cut down annual weeds before they drop seeds. Consider targeting difficult perennial weeds that don’t respond to digging, like bindweed and thistle, with the right poison at the right time.              

Firewise: Preparing your home for wildfire season

Bob Lick keeps brush and native grass mowed next to his house in the forest west of Cheyenne, creating a defensible space in case of wildfire. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Published May 31, 2015, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, “Take steps to become Firewise.”

By Barb Gorges

In the summer, when we smell smoke from the forest fires in Colorado and beyond, we might think we are safe here in Laramie County.

But several grassfires this winter and early spring should give us a heads up, whether we live within the city limits or “out in the county,” as people say around here.

It only takes an ignition source (lightning, a burn pile, a cigarette ember), fuel (dry grass, resinous wood, anything flammable) and oxygen.

But there are things you can do with your house and landscape, especially if you live in what the firefighting community calls the wildland/urban interface, to reduce fuel, which can improve your chances of firefighters being able to defend your home.

The community of Granite Springs Retreat in Wyoming is now a designated Firewise Community. The sign informs wildland firefighters that residents have taken action to make firefighting easier and safer. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Firewise Communities

Betsey Nickerson is the Laramie County coordinator for Firewise, a national program that works through the Wyoming State Forestry Division to help property owners, especially in forested areas, assess their fire risks and develop mitigation plans. Sometimes funding can be found to implement the plans.

The Firewise Communities program, in which a town or a group, like a homeowners association, works together, is most effective.

Bob Lick of Granite Springs Retreat, a development in the ponderosa forest 25 miles west of Cheyenne, attended one of Betsey’s talks about three years ago and realized his homeowners association needed to get onboard immediately.

This is the second year since it qualified as one of more than 1,000 Firewise communities nationwide. This Firewise committee educates neighbors and takes actions such as thinning pines along access roads and establishing one location where everyone can bring their tree prunings for safe burning.

On a rainy day in early May, as I visited Bob and his neighbors, it was hard to remember the approaching hot, dry and windy summer days ahead. Ironically, a wet spring means grasses will grow tall and lush. But when cured brown by mid-summer, they will provide perfect tinder.

The less flammable house

The Firewise website, http://firewise.org, has recommendations for the least flammable roof, wall, widow and vent materials.

Decks and fences attached to the house are considered part of the house. Bob and Marty Gill, another Granite Springs Retreat resident, have both used plastic lumber for their attached decks, which will melt in a fire, rather than burn.

Wooden fences need to be separated from the house with something that is not flammable, such as a metal gate or a brick pillar.

When there’s threat of fire, homeowners should remove straw welcome mats, patio cushions and other flammables.

The first 5 feet

The good news is that landscaping with rock is in fashion these days. Bob is in the middle of arranging a 5-foot-wide border of rock along the edge of his deck. Around the rest of the house is gravel, including his driveway, and more underneath the deck, to make sure nothing can grow, dry out and provide a rogue ember with tinder.

Barb and Milt Werner have built a terraced stone patio against one side of their log house that does double duty as a firebreak.

The three homes have hardly any foundation plantings. But with a beautiful natural setting, why bother?

Here in the city or out on the prairie, foundation plantings seem more aesthetically necessary.

Even though I live only 200 feet away from a fire hydrant, Betsey thinks I should remove the junipers that grow against my house. More than any of the other evergreens, junipers are about as flammable as a can of gasoline, she keeps reminding me.

Also consider the pine trees that lean over people’s homes, shedding needles on the roof and in the gutters. Talk about good tinder.

Deciduous plants are much less flammable than evergreens. The list of less flammable plants on Natrona County’s Firewise website is a roll call of native species found in mountain meadows. They are becoming more available through local nurseries.

A Firewise demonstration garden planned by Betsey and Laramie County Master Gardeners is being installed this summer at the Curt Gowdy State Park visitor center to show there are lots of aesthetically pleasing flowering plants that are fire resistant.

Barb Werner and her husband Milt keep their pines limbed up, removing lower limbs to the recommended height to avoid ground fires from “laddering” up the trees and crowning. She also removes pine needles and cones within her defensible space. The wet day in early May belies the hot, dry summer days to come. Photo by Barb Gorges.

30 feet out

When firefighters refer to “defensible space” around a home, homeowners get a vision of moonscape. True, you wouldn’t want your propane tank here, or the cute shed with the wood shake shingles, or your wood pile.

Trees are fine, in small, isolated islands, not in a continuous mass like a windbreak. Short shrubs, mowed grass, and gravel paths between flower beds can make a charming, fire-resistant landscape.

Even pine trees can be acceptable if they aren’t too close together. One secret Bob learned is that you can remove one pine in a clump of three, for instance, to allow the other two to take up more water, making them more fire resistant.

Also, limbing a pine tree—removing the lower branches—keeps a ground fire from laddering. That is, using branches, fire can easily make its way up the tree to reach the crown. Here, the flames catch more air and wind, billow out and throw fire-brands at nearby roofs and trees.

The recommendation is to remove evergreen limbs up to 6 to 8 feet above ground level. However, the pine trees near Barb and Milt’s house are hardly 12 feet tall so they use the other rule: remove no more limbs than those in the first third of the tree’s height.

One unexpected benefit is that more grass grew under the trees, Barb said.

While her gardening is limited to half a dozen containers well-fenced to keep deer out, Barb does put a lot of effort into raking up pinecones and excess pine needles that could be fuel for a stray ember.

30-100 feet out

Those in neighborhoods with less than 100 feet between their house and property boundary realize the need to work with their neighbors.

Out on the prairie, after the ground-nesting birds have fledged in late June to early July and the taller grasses begin to turn brown, it may be time to mow this zone.

Homeowners in the forest may have grass to mow there also, as well as trees and shrubs to manage as in the 5-30-foot zone.

Maintenance

Once you’ve had your property assessed for wildfire risk, and you spent the next few years completing all the recommended mitigation, you still have to keep up with maintenance. Check for leaves and needles in gutters, debris under the deck, dead wood, vegetation growth, and clutter.

Just chant the Firewise mantra: “clean, lean and green.”

The homeowners’ association has worked to make the roads more passable and safer for wildland firefighters by removing, thinning and limbing trees along access roads. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Insurance

Short of moving downtown, following Firewise principles is the best insurance against the increasing risk of wildfires during hotter and drier summers, and even dry winters.

Would using Firewise make a difference in home insurance policies? Betsey said she hasn’t heard of anyone receiving a discount, though it might help prevent loss of insurance.

But it should make for more restful nights for the increasing numbers of homeowners who take fire preparedness into their own hands.

Resources

Betsey Nickerson, 637-4912, 421-8012 cell

University of Wyoming Extension, “Living with Wildlfire in Wyoming,” http://www.uwyo.edu/barnbackyard/_files/documents/resources/wildfire2013/wildfire_web.pdf

Firewise Natrona County, plant list, http://www.firewisewyoming.com/

Colorado State University Extension, Firewise Plant Materials, http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06305.html

National Fire Protection Association, Firewise Communities, http://firewise.org